The semantics of discontinuous noun phrases in Quechua

In Cuzco Quechua there is a construction in which elements that typically appear noun phrase-internally may appear outside the noun phrase while receiving the same Casemarking as the noun. In this paper I look at the semantics and syntax of this discontinuous noun phrase construction. I argue that when an adjective or a quantifier appears outside the noun phrase it is also interpreted externally and not in a possible base position within the noun phrase itself. I adopt this analysis to explain data in which the discontinuous noun phrase is interpreted as necessarily indefinite. I also examine the behavior of an apparently exceptional universal quantifier sapa ‘each’ which cannot participate in the discontinuous construction. I explain this distribution of sapa, which differs from that of other universal quantifiers, by proposing that the basic use of sapa is as a quantifier over adverbial phrases

An Assessment Of The Use Of Green Stormwater Infrastructure For Flood Mitigation At Berry Brook

This research examined the effectiveness of GSI and other BMPs to control urban flooding for extreme precipitation events and compared the impacts of increasing impervious cover with the impacts of increasing rainfall intensity caused by climate change. The City of Dover has spent the last decade implementing best management practices in the 185-acre Berry Brook watershed to combat stream pollution and flooding caused by urbanization. Improvements to the watershed included building additional headwater wetland area, daylighting and restoring 1,100 feet of stream, and redirecting stormwater to GSIs, thereby reducing the effective impervious cover from 30% to 10%. Four PCSWMM models of the Berry Brook watershed were developed for the analysis: a pre-implementation model, a model of the pre-implementation watershed set to 15% IC, a model of the pre-implementation watershed set to 0% IC, and a model of the watershed after BMP implementation. The four models were used to examine the effects of GSI implementation, changing impervious cover, and climate change on urban watershed hydrology for the 2-year, 10-year, 50-year, and 100-year extreme precipitation events. The effectiveness of GSI and other BMPs to control urban flooding caused by extreme precipitation events was tested by comparing the peak flows, time to peak flows, runoff depth, and total storm flow volume. A long-term rainfall-runoff simulation from 2001 to 2011 was also done for the watershed with and without GSI. It was found that BMP implementation caused an median decrease in extreme peak flow of 7%, an increase in the time to peak flow of 3 minutes, a decrease in the runoff depth of 29%, and a decrease in the total storm flow volume of 30%. GSI impact was more prevalent in short duration extreme precipitation events than in long duration events. In the 10-year analysis, annual maximum flow decreased 8%. The infiltration of rainfall increased by 17% and the stormwater runoff decreased by 40%. This showed implementing GSI in an urban watershed will reduce flooding caused by extreme precipitation events but not eliminate it. For common storms of about no more than 1.3 inches, it was found that GSI reduced peak flows by a median of 68%. Increasing IC in the watershed was shown to have a much more dramatic effect than the increase in rainfall caused by climate change. Impact was still more prevalent in short duration extreme precipitation events than in long duration events. The difference between the BMP-managed watershed under future climate change conditions and the traditionally managed watershed under current day conditions was minimal, implying BMP implementation will keep flooding from getting any worse as the climate shifts, but by itself, GSI will not eliminate urban flooding

Who’s challenging who? : a co-produced approach for training staff in learning disability services about challenging behaviour

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline the development, piloting and evaluation of the Who’s Challenging Who? (WCW) training intervention for social care staff to improve their empathy and attitudes towards people with learning disabilities (LD) and challenging behaviour (CB). Design/methodology/approach A phased approach was taken to the development and testing of the intervention. Initially, the existing literature was reviewed, the theoretical background of the intervention was developed, and then the intervention was designed. A pilot study was undertaken, followed by further development, and a large-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT). Findings WCW had a small positive effect on staff empathy 20 weeks after the intervention, and small to moderate effects for other staff reported outcomes (e.g. positive empowerment attitudes and positive work motivation). Being trained by people with LD and CB encouraged staff to reflect on the impact they have on the people they support. The trainers with LD valued their role, and saw benefits beyond this (e.g. friendships). Research limitations/implications It is possible to carry out high-quality RCT evaluations of social care practice, and research should continue to generate evidence in this way, as in healthcare settings. However, there were difficulties in retaining participants. Practical implications People with LD can be actively involved in the co-production and delivery of social care training. Social implications Employment and a fair wage can increase the confidence and empowerment of people with LD. Originality/value This is the first large-scale RCT of an intervention that aimed to improve empathy/change attitudes in social care staff who work with people with LD and CB

Delivering Behaviour Change Interventions : Development of a Mode of Delivery Ontology

Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the experts who contributed to the open peer-review stages of this study and to Kirsty Atha for the support in annotating papers. Grant information: This work is supported by Wellcome through a collaborative award to The Human Behaviour-Change Project [201524]. MMM is funded by a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie fellowship [EU H2020 EDGE program grant agreement No. 713567].Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Who’s challenging who?: A co-produced approach for training staff in learning disability services about challenging behaviour

Purpose: This paper outlines the development, piloting, and evaluation of the Who’s Challenging Who? (WCW) training intervention for social care staff to improve their empathy and attitudes towards people with learning disabilities (LD) and challenging behaviour (CB). Design/Methodology/Approach: A phased approach was taken to the development and testing of the intervention. Initially, the existing literature was reviewed, the theoretical background of the intervention was developed, and then the intervention was designed. A pilot study was undertaken, followed by further development, and a large-scale Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT). Findings: WCW had a small positive effect on staff empathy 20 weeks after the intervention, and small to moderate effects for other staff reported outcomes (e.g., positive empowerment attitudes, positive work motivation). Being trained by people with LD and CB encouraged staff to reflect on the impact they have on the people they support. The trainers with LD valued their role, and saw benefits beyond this (e.g., friendships). Research limitations/implications: It is possible to carry out high-quality RCT evaluations of social care practice, and research should continue to generate evidence in this way, as in healthcare settings. However, there were difficulties in retaining participants. Practical implications: People with LD can be actively involved in the co-production and delivery of social care training. Social implications: Employment and a fair wage can increase the confidence and empowerment of people with LD. Originality/value: This is the first large-scale RCT of an intervention that aimed to improve empathy/change attitudes in social care staff who work with people with LD and CB

Development of an Intervention Setting Ontology for behaviour change: Specifying where interventions take place.

Background: Contextual factors such as an intervention's setting are key to understanding how interventions to change behaviour have their effects and patterns of generalisation across contexts. The intervention's setting is not consistently reported in published reports of evaluations. Using ontologies to specify and classify intervention setting characteristics enables clear and reproducible reporting, thus aiding replication, implementation and evidence synthesis. This paper reports the development of a Setting Ontology for behaviour change interventions as part of a Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology, currently being developed in the Wellcome Trust funded Human Behaviour-Change Project. Methods: The Intervention Setting Ontology was developed following methods for ontology development used in the Human Behaviour-Change Project: 1) Defining the ontology's scope, 2) Identifying key entities by reviewing existing classification systems (top-down) and 100 published behaviour change intervention reports (bottom-up), 3) Refining the preliminary ontology by literature annotation of 100 reports, 4) Stakeholder reviewing by 23 behavioural science and public health experts to refine the ontology, 5) Assessing inter-rater reliability of using the ontology by two annotators familiar with the ontology and two annotators unfamiliar with it, 6) Specifying ontological relationships between setting entities and 7) Making the Intervention Setting Ontology machine-readable using Web Ontology Language (OWL) and publishing online. Re sults: The Intervention Setting Ontology consists of 72 entities structured hierarchically with two upper-level classes: Physical setting including Geographic location, Attribute of location (including Area social and economic condition, Population and resource density sub-levels) and Intervention site (including Facility, Transportation and Outdoor environment sub-levels), as well as Social setting. Inter-rater reliability was found to be 0.73 (good) for those familiar with the ontology and 0.61 (acceptable) for those unfamiliar with it. Conclusion: The Intervention Setting Ontology can be used to code information from diverse sources, annotate the setting characteristics of existing intervention evaluation reports and guide future reporting

Standing up for Myself (STORM): Adapting and piloting a web-delivered psychosocial group intervention for people with intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND: Our STORM intervention was developed for people (16 +) with intellectual disabilities to enhance their capacity to manage and resist stigma. The current study describes the adaptation of STORM for (synchronous) on-line delivery in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. AIMS: To adapt the manualised face-to-face STORM group intervention for delivery via web-based meeting platforms and to conduct an initial pilot study to consider its acceptability and feasibility. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The 5-session STORM intervention was carefully adapted for online delivery. In a pilot study with four community groups (N = 22), outcome, health economics and attendance data were collected, and fidelity of delivery assessed. Focus groups with participants, and interviews with facilitators provided data on acceptability and feasibility. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The intervention was adapted with minimal changes to the content required. In the pilot study, 95% of participants were retained at follow-up, 91% attended at least three of the five sessions. Outcome measure completion and fidelity were excellent, and facilitators reported implementation to be feasible. The intervention was reported to be acceptable by participants. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: When provided with the necessary resources and support, people with intellectual disabilities participate actively in web-delivered group interventions

Standing up for Myself (STORM): Adapting and piloting a web-delivered psychosocial group intervention for people with intellectual disabilities

Background: Our STORM intervention was developed for people (16 +) with intellectual disabilities to enhance their capacity to manage and resist stigma. The current study describes the adaptation of STORM for (synchronous) on-line delivery in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Aims: To adapt the manualised face-to-face STORM group intervention for delivery via web-based meeting platforms and to conduct an initial pilot study to consider its acceptability and feasibility. Methods and procedures: The 5-session STORM intervention was carefully adapted for online delivery. In a pilot study with four community groups (N = 22), outcome, health economics and attendance data were collected, and fidelity of delivery assessed. Focus groups with participants, and interviews with facilitators provided data on acceptability and feasibility. Outcomes and results: The intervention was adapted with minimal changes to the content required. In the pilot study, 95% of participants were retained at follow-up, 91% attended at least three of the five sessions. Outcome measure completion and fidelity were excellent, and facilitators reported implementation to be feasible. The intervention was reported to be acceptable by participants. Conclusions and implications: When provided with the necessary resources and support, people with intellectual disabilities participate actively in web-delivered group interventions